Lighting upgrade

[AHDOnline]

So I have been struggling with lighting my 210 getting the right par to grow much of anything. After adding some heavy duty cooling it still just wasnt good enough. I evaluated LED but at basic costs of 2400 to get a few premade setups installed i figured i would just double what i had.

I bought two more icecap prewire 36" fixtures and cut them in half so now I have a total of 4 - 36" 4 bulb fixtures in my hood. I had to cut the two in half to be able to fit correctly and still allow me to open the hood at the hinge and do some maintenance.

Here are a few shots of the setup, pretty basic and i only cut myself once installing the reflectors. If you see a new glow coming from freedom area its probably my tank granted its only 650watts of lighting.

 

[AHDOnline]

Thanks to TomNeely it took me 2 hours longer to get installed because he came up with the idea of cutting my fixtures in half. I mean it wasnt his money

 

[Misled]

My God man, what are you trying to grow?????

No really that's nice. You should be able to get enough par with that. What do you plan for bulb choice?? Did you plug it in yet?? I think I see a faint glow over the horizon???

 

[AHDOnline]

Heh yeah..

Im playing with bulb choice, Its not fully on yet because i dont want to cook my coral and tan my fish ..

By configuration is a more blue look, all UVL Bulbs:
(you can see its going to be BLUE BLUE BLUE, i will probably change half of the actinics out)

from front to back
L1- Super Actinic R1- Actinic White
L2- 14k R2- Super Actinic
L3- Super Actinic R3- 14k
L4- Actinic White R4- Super Actinic
L5- Super Actinic R5- 14k
L6- Actinic White R6- Super Actinic
L7- Super Actinic R7- Actinic White
L8- 14k R8- Super Actinic

 

[REEFROOKEE]

um yea thats crazy!! everything is gonna be golden brown in there! lol or are you building a tanning bed!!? lol:dance:

 

[AHDOnline]

well we will see. I set it up so I can cut out a few lights easily.

Im not sure how long my burn in will be, but it am going to take it slow so I probably wont be full power for a while

 

[sedor]

Looks like a nice setup for a 210. Replacing those bulbs is gonna be a bit pricey, but then again what isn't in this hobby.

 

[cloakerpoked]

LOL, why not just go with 3 250w Metal Halides

 

[TomNeely]

Sorry I talked you into it.

It looks good though and it's going to be BRIGHT!

 

[cloakerpoked]

Yeah, you probably won't need your fixture anymore Tom...just buy a reflector and put it in your window, and you'll pick up enough light coming from Dave's house to just light your tank as well.

 

[bmiller1234]

I think my par went up in cranberry.... I noticed my leathers leaning southwest I think they are leaning towards your house!! Maybe I can get a clam with the extra light from your tank!

 

[AHDOnline]

Heh thanks... Im in the middle of rewiring. I turned all the lights on and blew a fuse so thankfully i had separate outlets setup already now i need something a little better than my DJ switch's...

and cloakerpoked MH's are still too hot. These keep my tank at average about 80 and doesnt make the room too much of a sauna..

 

[cloakerpoked]

Ah....I guess that canopy does sit pretty low on the tank. I was just thinking to myself, with almost the same energy consumption, and a much higher maintainance cost, you've lost pretty much every advantage t-5 brings besides being able to customize your color, but heat would be another biggie.

 

[fas77]

I run 8 x 36" on my 40 breeder. My diy canopy is similar to yours in that
the front 3 bulbs pivot up when you lift the canopy. My lights are about
7" from the surface. I run 3 4" fans, on low speed, blowing in from the back of the canopy and my temp stays about 79 all day.

My current bulb layout:
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue Special
UVL Super Actinic
GE 6500K Daylight
ATI Blue Plus
ATI Aquablue Special
Fiji Purple
SlimPaq Actinic